I have to admit that I first heard Arcade Fire, the great indie band from Montreal, through their quirky elevator video, Neon Bible in 2008. But “Wake Up” from Funeral, recorded in 2005, is what put them on the map, and is clearly the song that has earned them a huge and loving following. It has the power of a religious choral. We are Zeus-like gods in control (“my lightning bolts aglowing”) , but the “reaper”, i.e. death, will come to get us, too, so we need to “grow up” if we don’t want to let “our hearts get torn up.” The good news: “With my lightning bolts a glowing / I can see where I am going.” Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that the band purchased a no-longer used church in the small Quebec town of Farnham to record “Neon Bible”. In addition to guitar, drums and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, accordion, hurdy gurdy, harp and mandolin.
Something filled up
my heart with nothing,
someone told me not to cry.
But now that I’m older,
my heart’s colder,
and I can see that it’s a lie.
Children wake up,
hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust.
If the children don’t grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We’re just a million little gods causing rain storms
turning every good thing to rust.
I guess we’ll just have to adjust.
With my lightning bolts a glowing
I can see where I am going to be
when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.
With my lightning bolts a glowing
I can see where I am going
You better look out below!
learning english with songs 🙂 englischlernen mit liedern
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PS: Lesekreis pointed out that this song is being used as the title song for Spike Jonze’s film version of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the wild things are”: